Taste
by perilousgard
Summary: Bolin and Korra share an ice cream cone on a hot day. Borra.


_This was written in response to a lovely sketch by ~ohlookitscazz on tumblr. Seriously, go troll her art tag. On top of that she is a fantastic person. So go. Goooo. _

Bolin's mouth was so dry he was having difficulty swallowing. The heat was so oppressive that he didn't even want to hold Korra's hand anymore, which was saying something. She was trudging along at his side, looking like she wasn't even fully aware of her surroundings. Bolin took a deep breath of hot air, wiping a hand across his sweat-damp forehead.

"Maybe Asami would let us use her pool if we dropped in on her," he suggested. They had been looking for ways to cool off all afternoon, which was not exactly how Bolin had wanted to spend their date, but it was impossible to think of anything but the heat.

"She's still in the Earth Kingdom negotiating with some company," Korra reminded him wearily.

"Oh, yeah. Well, um…we could always go back to the movies…"

"And spend another miserable hour in that stuffy theater with tons of other people? No thanks, Bo."

"Yeah, I guess not." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Korra. I just wanted our second date to be better than the first."

"This is technically our third date," she corrected him with a smile.

"Right, well, I prefer not to think about _that _date. Even though it technically ended well…"

"Sorry." She flushed a bit and slipped her sweaty hand into his. "At any rate, our last date was fun, too. I'd never been to a carnival."

"Yeah, but I almost puked on you."

She laughed, interlocking their fingers. "Bo, it's okay, we found the trash can in time."

This time he was the one who flushed, but at her gentle squeeze of his hand, he returned her smile. "Well, I still wanted things to be perfect. Passing out from heat exhaustion isn't really what I had in mind."

"It's not quite that bad," Korra said, nudging his shoulder with her own. "Hey…want to get some ice cream?"

She pointed at a little shop they were passing on the opposite side of the street, with a large sign proclaiming COLD CONES FOR 5 YUANS in the window. Bolin hesitated, dipping a hand into his pocket and feeling around for the few coins he still had.

"I don't think I have enough money for more than one cone," he admitted, wishing he didn't have a limit to how much money he could spend on her. If he could, he would have given her anything and everything. Of course, he knew that Korra didn't particularly care about material possessions, but he couldn't let go of the idea of putting a beautiful piece of jewelry around her neck, or taking her out to the nicest restaurant in town. He wanted to spoil her.

Korra shrugged at his confession. "That's all right. We can just split one."

The earthbender visibly brightened, and slipped his hand from hers so he could take her arm instead, pulling her across the street. "Okay. We can get whatever flavor you want!"

They ended up getting chocolate, which was fine with Bolin since that was his favorite. He allowed himself to muse on how much they had in common as they left the shop, the cone held between them. He couldn't stop the single thought that kept repeating itself inside his head: _We are perfect for each other._

"We have to eat it fast," Korra said as they walked, leaning over to lick one side of the cone. The cold treat was already starting to melt in the heat. Laughing, Bolin moved in to lick the other side, catching her eye as he did so. Up close, the deep blue of her eyes seemed endless. Her fingers brushed over his as she adjusted her grip on the cone. After a moment, the ice cream began to drop over both of their hands.

"It's melting too fast!" Bolin exclaimed with a laugh. "I'm giving myself brain freeze."

Korra chuckled, pulling back to look at him. She licked the corner of her mouth, drawing Bolin's gaze. His eyes must have lingered a little longer than he intended, because Korra gently lifted his chin with two fingers, a smirk now tugging at her lips.

"You've got a little bit on your mouth," she said, her voice a little lower-pitched than usual.

"Hmm? Where?" He lifted a hand to his face.

She reached up and caught it with hers. "Right about here," she murmured, and leaned in to press her lips against his.

The kiss was light, but it took all of Bolin's willpower not to melt against her as quickly as the ice cream was melting over their joined hands. They had only kissed once before, and he still wasn't used to the fact that Korra actually _wanted _to kiss him. As his mouth lifted under hers, she gave a soft hum and moved closer. Bolin completely forgot about the ice cream dripping all over his hand and lost himself in her kiss, tasting the chocolate soft serve in her mouth and on her tongue as it flickered against his own.

She laughed against his mouth, leaving his lips tingling. "Well, that didn't do anything to cool me off…but it sure beats the cinema."

Bolin flushed to the tips of his toes, and before he could respond, she was kissing him again, more firmly than before. The remainder of the ice cream tumbled from his hand and landed on the hot pavement as he wrapped both arms around her.

She was right; it did nothing to quell the heat, but somehow, this was a kind of heat Bolin knew he could easily get addicted to.


End file.
